Sadly, neither Kajal Ahmad nor Noshi Gillani was able to travel to the UK to take part in the World Poets’ Tour – and both of them had been booked, alongside Farzaneth Khojandi, for this reading at the wonderful Ilkley Literature Festival.
However, all was not lost: we were enormously grateful to the distinguished Pakistani novelist, Nadeem Aslam, who read Noshi’s poems in Urdu, alongside her translator, Lavinia Greenlaw, and to Choman Hardi who read Kajal’s poems in Kurdish.
Despite two out of three international poets not being able to make it to Ilkley, the readings were enthusiastically received by a very warm and attentive audience. Lavinia kindly read the English translations of Kajal’s and Farzaneh’s poems, as well as her own subtle and delicate versions of the poems of Noshi Gillani.
Guardian Online made a podcast of Farzaneh Khojandi and Jo Shapcott discussing their poems and translations.
